


Dad

by doctorkilljoy



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Birth, Dad feelings, Darcy's having a baby!, F/M, Fluff, Panic, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 02:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorkilljoy/pseuds/doctorkilljoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy goes into labor. Steve doesn't handle it as well as he could.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dad

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So... I haven't posted anything Avengers before. And seeing as that's what I wrote exclusively for NaNo (four years in a row and STILL haven't finished a single time! I probably shouldn't be proud of that but hell, at least I participated) you're probably going to be seeing a bit more of it from me. So here it is!

Steve Rogers had been through World War II. He’d fought Johann Schmidt and HYDRA in their own base. He’d fought aliens invading New York being led by the psychotic brother of one of his best friends. But none of that training had prepared him for this. Darcy Lewis, his fiancé, was in labor. He was not panicking, not in the least. Darcy’s hospital bag was already together and Tony had asked Happy to bring the car around. But there was one more thing he needed to do, which was call the midwife.

“Darcy, what’s the number?” Steve asked, suddenly realizing that he couldn’t remember it.  
She winced. The contractions were getting closer together, so the pain was increasing. Darcy said, “It’s in the contacts list under NYC Midwives.”

He flipped over to the phone menu and looked it up, then pressed just a bit too hard to select the contact, cracking the screen. “Damn!” He shouted. But the phone was still dialing, so it didn’t matter. He tried to wait patiently for the phone to dial, but seeing Darcy wince again his grip tightened and he heard the phone cracking further.

“Steve, easy on the hardware!” Tony said as he came in. “Not like busting the phone is gonna help Mrs. America out.”

“Wow, that’s a pretty lame nickname, especially coming from you Tony,” Darcy pointed out.

“I know, I’m off my A game. I think it’s because you’re about to push a human being out of your lady parts.”

Steve ignored them, as the call finally went through.

“Thank you for calling NYC Midwives Message Center, this is Lynni how may I help you?”

“Hi my name is Steve my fiancé is Darcy and she’s going into labor. We need to alert the midwife at the birth center!” Steve said all in one breath. He could hear typing in the background.

“Okay Steve, fiancé… What’s Darcy’s last name?”

“Lewis!”

“Is that spelled L, E as in Edward, W, I, S as in Sam?”

Steve paled. “Yes! What does that matter?! She’s in labor and she needs the midwife!”

“Sir, I need a bit more information from you so the midwife will know which Darcy Lewis is coming. Now which area of the city are you located in?”

“Manhattan, my name is Steve Rogers.” He hoped maybe a name drop might help. He usually didn’t go in for that sort of thing, but given that Darcy was about to have a baby he was willing to do anything.

She didn’t comment on it, seeming to be completely unfazed. He heard more typing, and the operator asked, “And how far along is she in her pregnancy?”

Steve was about ready to yell at the woman, or possibly hyperventilate. “Don’t you have this information already?”

“Sir I’m part of an off-site message center, I don’t have access to patient information.”

He suddenly felt cool, delicate fingers on his hand. He looked over just as Darcy pulled the phone away from his ear. She took it and said, “I’m sorry about him, he’s a soldier so he’s kind of having a panic attack about this baby stuff. Uh huh.” Darcy laughed a little, but then breathed slowly, another contraction coming on. “I’m 40 weeks. Yes. About two minutes apart? Yes that’s our phone number. Okay thank you. Oh, thank you! I sure will. Bye.” She hung up and frowned. “Steve you owe me a new phone.”

“So?” Steve asked.

“The midwife is already out, she’ll meet us there. The operator wished us luck. And said to tell you they have smelling salts and tranquilizers at the birth center in case you need either of them.”

Tony grinned and Steve glared at him as though it were his fault. “Let’s get down there.”

~*~*~*~

It was a surprisingly quick delivery, only four hours of heavy labor. After which Steve had accidentally broken a few cups and squeezed Darcy’s hand hard enough to make her forget the labor pains for a minute. Tony wasn’t any help, he was filming the birth and making terrible jokes the entire time. But after all of that, (and the midwife threatening to throw them out) Darcy gave birth to a healthy baby girl at 1:43 AM.

They cleaned the baby off and after clamping and cutting the umbilical cord, wrapped her in a blanket and handed her to Darcy. Darcy herself having been cleaned off and put into a bed with fresh sheets that weren’t covered in blood and guts.

The midwife had shooed the nurses and a protesting Tony out of the room so that the couple could be alone with their baby. Steve was sitting in a chair next to the bed, feeling as though he’d gone on a marathon around the world. He didn’t imagine Darcy felt any better. But she was smiling, and touching the baby’s face. “She’s perfect.”

“You did it,” Steve replied, returning her smile.

“We did. Here.” She held the baby out to Steve.

Steve reached for the baby, but hesitated. After how many things he’d broken that day he wasn’t sure that he could. He might end up accidentally squeezing the baby too hard. “I shouldn’t, I might hurt her.”

“She’s your daughter Steve, you’re not going to hurt her. Come on.” She handed Steve the little girl.

For a minute, he was so overwhelmed he wasn’t sure what to say. This was his daughter, his and Darcy’s. And she was perfect. He was glad Tony wasn’t there because he’d never hear the end of it; Steve started to cry. “She’s perfect,” he said, looking at Darcy. He was grinning now, and carefully holding the baby.

Darcy was beaming at Steve, and as carefully as she could, took the child from him. “What should we name her?”

“I… You know I hadn’t thought about it.”

“We’ve got time to think about it. But her last name is still going to be Rogers-Lewis.”

~*~*~*~

Darcy and the baby were released from the birth center the next day. They’d both checked out okay and while Darcy was still pretty tired, the midwife had said it was all right for her to go home. When they got back to the Avengers Tower, they were surprised to see the rest of the team there waiting for them. Pepper had arranged to bring Bucky, Jane, Thor, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Rhodey and even Coulson to the tower for a party. And of course, everyone wanted to see the baby.

“What did you end up naming her?” Jane asked, holding the little girl.

“They totally ignored my idea and went with something lame,” said Tony, looking put out.

“You said we should name her Liberty Bell Rogers,” Steve pointed out.

“That’s a fitting name! It’s so lame it’s cool!”

“Over my dead body, Stark,” Darcy replied. She then said to Jane, “We named her Elizabeth.”  
Bucky was looking at the child over Jane’s shoulder and he smiled at Steve, giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Looks like you did good punk. She’s a doll.”

He smiled at Bucky. “Yeah, she is.” Steve was so obviously smitten with both Darcy and Elizabeth, he looked like he was on cloud nine.

Thor had taken Bucky’s place by now, and upon hearing her name said, “A worthy name for a lovely babe.” He gingerly touched Elizabeth’s forehead and was delighted when the girl responded. “She smiles at me!”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Actually He-Man, I think she’s going to puke.”

Darcy took the baby and said, “She’s not going to spit up, she’s just a little over excited to see everyone.”

The whole team took turns holding the baby, and JARVIS recorded it all. Everyone was smiling and joyful, but then Steve was distracted when he saw a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head, he saw a box on the piano he hadn’t seen when they’d first come in. Signaling to Tony and Thor, they walked over to check it out.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw a card on the top. It was addressed as, “To the offspring of Miss Darcy Lewis and the insufferable Captain.”

“This was written in Loki’s own hand,” Thor said, removing the card.

“Is it a trick? Should we evacuate?” Steve asked.

“Nay, I think not,” Thor replied and opened the box. Inside was a wooden goat, probably hand carved and very old. But it had been taken care of lovingly, and it made Thor grin.

“Mind cluing us in there, Clairol?” Tony asked.

“It is Loki’s, or was when he was a child. He has given it to Elizabeth.”

“What’s so funny about that?” Steve wondered.

“On Asgard, giving such a gift is a sign of respect. Doubly so if that person is an enemy. And when it is given to an enemy, it means he has sworn a silent oath.” Thor clapped Steve on the shoulder. “He has sworn he will not harm your child.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am. Loki has children of his own, and is deadly serious with such oaths. No harm will come to Elizabeth by his hand.”

“Gee, if only the rest of our enemies were that considerate,” Tony muttered, taking the carving from Thor. “Still, maybe we should get this checked out, make sure it’s not a Trojan goat.”

Thor frowned. “It is Asgardian, as I said.”

Steve laughed. “We’ll explain later, Thor.”

They returned to the party, but what Tony said gnawed at the back of Steve’s mind. The Avengers had enemies, and so did Captain America, what if someone did try to hurt Elizabeth to get to him? Darcy, while human and lacking superpowers, was more than capable of taking care of herself. But Elizabeth was a baby. Natasha noticed the look on Steve’s face, and pulled him aside.

“You okay Cap?”

“Just worried.” He replied, frowning.

Natasha quirked her head to the side. “About your daughter?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re worried someone with a grudge is going to try to hurt her.” She gave him a small smile. “We’re not going to let that happen. Elizabeth is going to be guarded 24/7, 365. There’s JARVIS and his security system here, and Fury’s already put a security detail for her and Darcy on them. They’re probably watching from some of the local roof tops right now. And I think it’s pretty obvious anyone in this room would die to protect her. Just look around.”

Steve looked at the others. Coulson was holding Elizabeth, and though his face was carefully schooled, he was beaming. Pepper and Jane especially were cooing over the baby, while Clint was holding her hand and trying to make her laugh. Tony was busy scanning the goat toy while Thor boomed with laughter at something Rhodey said. Bruce was even chuckling. Steve caught sight of Darcy and she smiled at him. He couldn’t help smiling back. “I guess we’re not a team anymore,” Steve said.

Natasha looked at him. “What would you say we are?”

He said back, “A family.”

“No argument here.”

Around that time, Elizabeth was starting to get fussy, and Darcy was feeling fatigued. So the party broke up, and Steve and Darcy headed to their suite. They’d set up the baby’s room ages ago, and everything was ready for Elizabeth. Darcy put her down, and she fell asleep almost at once. She leaned over and kissed her daughter’s forehead, then said, “I am super beat. I feel like I was fighting the Hulk with my vagina.”

Steve laughed. “I’ve heard giving birth can be like that. Come on, I could use a nap myself.” Steve hadn’t slept a wink since Darcy had gone into labor the previous night. They turned on the baby monitor (a security camera that fed directly into their bedroom) and went to their room. He helped Darcy change into her pajamas, and once she was in bed he stripped down to a t-shirt and briefs. He got into bed with Darcy and after kissing her lips, drifted off to sleep.

But about an hour later, Elizabeth woke up and started crying. Both Steve and Darcy sat up, but when he saw her wince with the sudden motion he told her to lay down. “It’s all right, I’ve got her.” He rose from the bed, going to his daughter’s room. Elizabeth was practically howling now, and Steve picked her up, cradling her. “Hey… Hey Libby, what’s wrong huh? You hungry?” He checked her, and she didn’t seem to be hungry, cold, or need a diaper change. In fact, she started to quiet as soon as Steve held her.

He smiled, and went to the rocking chair in the room, sitting down. He rocked back and forth, and hummed a song to her. Steve didn’t even hear Darcy until there was a loud clicking noise. He looked up, seeing she’d taken a picture of them with her phone. He chuckled and asked, “Immortalizing the moment?”

“Hell yeah. Fatherhood looks good on you. It’s kind of a turn on.”

This time, he laughed. “Everything’s a turn on to you.”

“Only things that involve a certain Captain,” she pointed out. Darcy slipped her phone into her pocket and walked over, kissing Steve on the forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said, and looked down at Elizabeth. “I love you both so much.”

Elizabeth squealed happily, and Steve felt his heart lift. There were still things that worried him, the dangers in the world that his daughter faced. But when he held her, and looked up at Darcy, it didn’t matter. He knew in his heart that everything was going to be fine.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my friends who read this over and said it didn't suck, and convinced me to post it. Oh and I have a Tumblr, come find me at talkingcinemalight


End file.
